rjh_54

A few months ago I came across Bullmoose online while shopping for some used CDs and DVDs. They're only located in northern New England states like Maine, New Hampshire, etc.

I'm from CT, so I had no idea of this company's existence until a few months ago. A few weeks ago I was in MA, about 15 minutes from the New Hampshire border so I decided to take a ride to the Bullmoose in Salem, NH. I was very impressed! They've got an extensive stock of CDs and DVDs, and their prices were VERY reasonable. Their Blu-Ray selection left a little to be desired but I didn't mind, seeing as I still walked out with a haul of albums I'd been looking for.

Who here has been to a Bullmoose? What are your thoughts?

EdTheRipper

I've never heard of them until now. Looks like they've got 11 locations in New Hampshire and Maine. Sounds a bit like Newbury Comics to me.

The Cow

Never been to a B&M store, but have ordered from there website several times. Good place to get vinyl.

Lastdaysofrain

They are fantastic. I actually am in the Salem store about once a month selling a box of DVDs/CDs. They buy everything, pay well and their trade deal is great. They are really one of the few "classic" style brick and mortar stores left.

rjh_54

They are miles better than Newbury Comics, in my opinion. They have a much better selection and their prices are great too.

I'm actually going to be in the area later this week so I think I'm going to stop by the Salem store. I have a bag full of CDs that I'm trying to unload - ones that FYE wouldn't take because they'd only give $.01 for trade-in. Do you think Bullmoose would take them? What are their trade-in values like?

EdTheRipper

Some Newbury locations are really good. There is one in Norwood, MA that my son and I went to the other day. It was HUGE, probably twice as big as any of their other locations. CD, DVD, and Blu-rays were quite plentiful, and the prices on used titles was solid.

Now, the Newbury that I used to go regularly shifted from a stand-alone location to just another store in the mall. That location is pretty terrible. Small store and the media sections are miniscule because they are too busy trying to sell kitschy shirts to teens.

If I ever make my way up towards NH, I'll have to check this place out. I love stores like that. Actually, I just looked at Mapquest, and the Salem location is only 68 miles from me. I'll definitely take a trip up there next time I'm on vacation from work.

rjh_54

There's actually a Newbury Comics across the street from the Bullmoose in Salem, NH. I'll have to check out the Newbury in Norwood, though. The Newbury locations I've been to more frequently (like the one in Manchester CT and the Faneuil Hall location) have greatly reduced their selections and I was a bit disappointed.

I think in my travels this weekend I'll check out the Newbury at the Burlington Mall (haven't been there since FYE was open there), maybe the North Shore Mall and possibly that Norwood location.

The Newbury in Salem NH is not much either which is odd, considering it's right across the street from a huge Bullmoose. I went to Newbury's original location on Newbury Street and I thought it was cool, but I still felt a little underwhelmed. If there were any Newbury Comics closer to me, I'd go there instead of to FYE, which I go to pretty frequently.

It's definitely worth the ride. Their website is great too because if there's a particular title that you're looking for it shows which locations it's available at. I went there knowing exactly what to look for and found everything quickly, but that still didn't stop me from spending an hour just browsing.

EdTheRipper

We made the drive up to Salem today to check out that location. I was pretty impressed with their selection. We could have spent hours in there, honestly. Their prices were hit-or-miss...some were really good, and others were a bit much. I did like their $1.97 Blu-ray selection and grabbed a few. I also thought the cd grab bags were interesting. We grabbed two bags of 15 and got roughly 10-12 that were really good titles. We also ventured to that Newbury across the street. You were definitely right....it wasn't anything special. I actually expected the prices to be lower considering the competition across the street, so I was surprised to find them being pretty much the same.

rjh_54, did you ever check out that Newbury in Norwood?

rjh_54

Glad you enjoyed! Last time I was there (that weekend in June) they were out of those CD grab bags which was a bummer, but the first time there I also got 2 bags so we had a very fun and interesting ride back home!

Sadly, I did not have the chance to go to the Newbury in Norwood, but I did check out the ones in Burlington, Saugus and Peabody. We didn't realize how pressed for time we were. Burlington and Saugus left much to be desired (Saugus moreso), but the one in that mall in Peabody was fairly decent. I feel like with their used selections (at least for CDs) it's not much of a mixed bag lately. I saw a lot of the same stuff used in every location I went to, and I'm not necessarily talking about extremely common titles.

I'm going to try to get back to MA in September or October (I love it there in the fall), so it's definitely a priority for me

EdTheRipper

Yeah, used cds at Newbury tend to be very similar at every location. Their selection is pretty limited at most of their locations these days, unfortunately. I've been doing fairly well with their $5.99 Blu-rays though, having grabbed 10-15 over the weekend. So, that is a positive. I'll most likely wind up making the trip back up to Salem again at some point in the future.

rjh_54

I placed an order online for a pretty hard-to-find box set on 12/26. I'd been looking for it for a while so I was thrilled to find it for a good price. Three days go by and I hadn't received any updates. I sent them an e-mail asking about the order and I was told that they "couldn't find" the item and that my order would be canceled. I was frustrated, but also not entirely surprised since this was the second order I placed for a hard-to-find item that they "couldn't find" and ended up canceling.

A few days later, I log on to my account on their website and see that my order was, in fact, NOT canceled and therefore I was not refunded. I opened the order info and see that the DVD set I ordered was either back in stock or never out of stock to begin with (most likely the latter). I send them another e-mail letting them know all of this, asking if they could just finally ship me the order, since it has to be somewhere. I ask them, if they end up not finding it, to just cancel the order so I can just be done with it. I get no response.

Finally, a day or two later I check back and see the item STILL in stock at one of their stores. Desperate for ANY kind of response, I reach out to them on Twitter. I'm told that whoever runs the Twitter "can't really" check on orders since they're on mobile and I'd have to wait until the person is near a PC. In the meantime, I am told, I should send them another e-mail and that they should respond within the next few hours. I did, and again got no response.

The following day, I called the actual location that had the DVD in stock. I explain my situation to the employee that picked up and he put me on hold for five or six minutes so he could look for the set, to no avail. He offered to keep looking and took down my number and said that he'd get back to me either way. Big surprise! I never got a call.

Monday rolls around - day number six of this fiasco going unresolved. I finally get an e-mail response midday. I'm told they are having trouble finding the DVD, that they only have one copy (NO KIDDING!) and if they end up not finding it that day they would issue me a refund.

Well, it's Wednesday, eight days after my initial order was placed, and 48 hours after when they'd supposedly issue me a refund. Guess who still hasn't heard back from them and still has not been refunded?

I checked this morning and the item is now out of stock so they got a lovely little email from me.

If the item is now out of stock that means it couldn't have been THAT hard to find by a customer in-store. Or maybe an employee had it stashed away for themselves? It's all very shady, and I'm royally pissed.

TheBang

Or maybe they corrected their inventory after looking for the item like they told you they would?

Viper187

I tried to signup on their website once, but I can't. The stupid motherfuckers setup their form to require more than 2 characters for a first name. Well, mine is only 2 characters. I emailed them and never got a response. Fuckwits

Alan Smithee

I've gotten the past few Warner 3D titles from them since those were hardly even being sold anywhere and Bullmoose was one of the few that had them under $30. I pre-ordered Lego Ninjago Movie and it took forever to ship though, but still grateful just to have it at all. I don't know who's decided to distribute these so poorly, but hope they don't think low sales on these equals low demand for 3D.

rjh_54

They ended up responding to my e-mail, finally canceling my order and giving me a refund.

On a whim, I checked my wish list Saturday morning and sure enough the DVD set showed up as in stock, and at the same store it was supposedly in stock at previously. Not expecting anything, I placed a new order and surprisingly I got an e-mail later that evening saying that the item was packaged and ready for shipment. It's a shame their communication wasn't great the first time around but I'm happy that I'll finally be getting the set, and for such a great price.

I will say, they are pretty good about stocking all editions of any particular movie or CD release - especially mainstream releases - especially certain editions that big chain B&M stores may not stock lots of (or any at all).